Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry
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Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry · Jan 2013
All-trans retinoic acid rescues memory deficits and neuropathological changes in mouse model of streptozotocin-induced dementia of Alzheimer's type.
Recent studies have revealed that aberrant vitamin A signaling may lead to memory deficits in rodents. Present study investigates the potential of all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) an agonist at retinoid acid family of receptors, in cognitive dysfunctions associated with experimental dementia. Streptozotocin (STZ) [3 mg/kg, intracerebroventricularly (i.c.v)] was administered on alternate days (day 1 and day 3) to induce dementia in Swiss albino mice. ⋯ Further the stained micrographs of STZ-treated mice indicated pathological changes, severe neutrophilic infiltration and amyloid deposition. ATRA treatment significantly attenuated STZ-induced memory deficits, biochemical and histopathological alterations. The findings demonstrate that the memory restorative ability of ATRA may be attributed to its anti-cholinesterase, anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory potential.
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Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry · Jan 2013
Randomized Controlled TrialNeural mechanism of placebo effects and cognitive reappraisal in emotion regulation.
The present study compared learning-based placebo effect and cognition-based reappraisal, to reveal the common and unique neural mechanisms between the two emotion regulations. First, the anxiety-relieving effect was tested by conducting a behavioral experiment. ⋯ Our results show that learning-based placebo effect and cognition-based reappraisal have common anxiety-relieving effects. The placebo effect mainly depends on direct pathway subgenual cingulate-amygdala to regulate emotions, whereas the reappraisal may rely on both indirect pathways, such as the dorsal PFC-subgenual cingulate-amygdala, and direct pathways, such as the ventral lateral PFC-amygdala to regulate emotions.
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Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry · Jan 2013
Neural correlates of altered response inhibition and dysfunctional connectivity at rest in obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Functional imaging studies of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have reported altered fronto-striatal activity during executive tasks. Additionally, altered connectivity of these regions during resting state was found. However, the relationship between brain activity during tasks and resting state remains poorly understood. The present study investigated neural correlates associated with abnormal response inhibition in OCD and to examine how resting state functional connectivity relates to task-related activity. ⋯ This study found altered function in fronto-striatal regions during response inhibition and its relation to resting state functional connectivity in OCD. Our results suggest that dysfunctional striatal-cortical connections even during rest may result in the failure of response inhibition and error monitoring observed in OCD patients.
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Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry · Jan 2013
Chronic treatment with baicalin prevents the chronic mild stress-induced depressive-like behavior: involving the inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2 in rat brain.
Baicalin, a major constituent of flavonoids isolated from Scutellariae Radix, has been previously confirmed to decrease the duration of immobility in mice exposed to the forced swimming test (FST) and tail suspension test (TST). However, its antidepressant effects and mechanisms are still seldom studied in chronic mild stress (CMS) model of depression. In the present study, we attempted to investigate the effects of baicalin on the depressive-like behavior, the mRNA expression and activity of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), as well as prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) levels in the frontal cortex and hippocampus. ⋯ Treatment with baicalin (10, 20, 40 mg/kg) prevented these abnormalities induced by CMS. These results confirmed that baicalin exerted antidepressant-like effects, and suggested its mechanisms at least partially related to decease COX-2 activity and expression, subsequently resulted in reduction of PGE(2) levels in brain. Our findings may provide a new aspect to understand the antidepressant action of baicalin, which is targeted on the COX-2 system in brain.
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Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry · Jan 2013
NMDA GluN2B receptors involved in the antidepressant effects of curcumin in the forced swim test.
The antidepressant-like effect of curcumin, a major active component of Curcuma longa, has been previously demonstrated in the forced swimming test. However, the mechanism of this beneficial effect on immobility scores, which is used to evaluate antidepressants, remains largely uncharacterized. The present study attempts to investigate the effects of curcumin on depressive-like behavior with a focus upon the possible contribution of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) subtype glutamate receptors in this antidepressant-like effect of curcumin. ⋯ Furthermore, pre-treatment with a sub-effective dose of DCS potentiated the anti-immobility effect of a sub-effective dose of curcumin in the forced swimming test. Taken together, these results suggest that curcumin shows antidepressant-like effects in mice and the activation of GluN2B-containing NMDARs is likely to play a predominate role in this beneficial effect. Therefore, the antidepressant-like effect of curcumin in the forced swim test may be mediated, at least in part, by the glutamatergic system.